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The investment bank Jefferies downgraded UK property companies a few weeks ago over election fears, but has now U-turned, saying fears over the election are overblown. Analysts say the market's "pause for breath" they were expecting has failed to materialise, and upgraded UK property.

Tekcapital (AIM: TEK), an international provider of technology and intellectual property services, is pleased to announce the appointment of Allenby Capital Limited as its Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker with immediate effect. Optiva Securities Limited will continue as Joint Broker.

Signalling another technology acquisition. This means as more technology acquisitions are executed; the chances of a commercialising a couple of them in the next 12 months can only be greater with the consequence impact on Market Value of this business.

FTSE 250 gold miner Acacia Mining has inked two further earn-in agreements to expand its footprint in the Houndé belt in Burkina Faso which it says presents a "great opportunity". Chief executive Brad Gordon said the new agreements gives Acacia "further access to the most prospective trends within the Houndé belt, which is host to a number of high grade discoveries".

UK wine merchant Majestic Wine on Friday announced it will buy Naked Wines, a customer funded international online wine business for up to £70m. The agreement includes approximately £50m payable on completion in cash, plus up to £20m contingent consideration payable in Majestic's ordinary shares. Cash consideration is being funded by new debt facilities. Majestic said that the deal is expected to be enhancing to fully earnings in 2017.

After a strong third quarter showing, recruiter Hays said it now expects to deliver stronger operating profit growth for the full year, with second half operating profits slightly ahead of the first. In the three months to 31 March net fees increased 5% on a headline basis and 8% on a like-for-like basis against the prior year.

Strong pound could push Bank of England to cut interest rates: Interest rates were held at 0.5% by the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee (MPC), with economists predicting they will stay low for another year.

Development of Nine Elms clears a hurdle: St Modwen and the Covent Garden Market Authority reached an agreement for the redevelopment of the 57-acre development in Nine Elms, on the south bank of the Thames.

Edge taken off U.K. companies’ profitability by oil price drop: U.K. Companies lost profitability to­wards the end of 2014, led by strug­gling firms in the oil industry.

S&P puts Shell’s credit rating on negative watch: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has placed its credit ratings on Royal Dutch Shell on negative watch, after the company announced its £47 billion offer for British gas producer BG Group.

U.K. homes overvalued by average £75k: British home sellers overvalue their homes by hundreds of thousands of pounds, suggests research

Embattled Iraqi oil explorer Gulf Keystone suffers £170 million losses after production ground to a halt: Troubled Iraqi oil explorer Gulf Keystone saw losses balloon after a year when its Founder was ousted and it stopped production due to an unpaid £140 million bill.

BG Group deal with oil giant Royal Dutch Shell sparks fury over pay: BG Group is facing a fresh investor backlash over executive pay in the wake of oil giant Royal Dutch Shell’s £47 billion takeover offer

Gatwick oil find ‘could produce 100 billion barrels’: An oil company claimed on Thursday that it had found the equivalent of 100 billion barrels of oil close to Gatwick airport, sending the firm’s share price racing in the City and prompting immediate controversy with environmentalists.

Cranswick shares look cheap: Cranswick, Britain’s largest sausage maker, said that it had enjoyed a strong finish to the year on rising sales of fresh pork — the sort of encouraging performance that underpins why we think the shares make a good addition to any portfolio. The FTSE 250-listed company boasts a solid balance sheet, excellent cash generation and it likes to return that cash to shareholders through regular dividend payments. Sales of pork products during the three months to the end of March were 4% higher than the same period a year earlier, and up from 2% growth in the third quarter. That second half sales performance meant full year sales were up 1%, a steady improvement on the sluggish first-half. Cranswick has also been taking greater control of its cost base and supply chain by expanding its pig breeding and growing facilities. The company now supplies more than 20% of its weekly meat demand of some 50,000 pigs from its own farms in the U.K. The acquisition of the pig farming business and investment into new production facilities saw debt levels increase at Cranswick and the company should finish with net debt at around £17 million. However, with strong cash generation the debt levels are forecast to reverse to net cash of almost £5 million within 12 months’ time. The shares have had a quiet year so far, up just 2.4%, which is well behind the wider FTSE 250 that has risen 9.8% so far. The shares are trading on a forecast price-earnings ratio of 14.6 times, falling to 13.8. This looks fair given the track record, cash generation and strong balance sheet. Cranswick at £14.13+13p Questor Says “Buy”.

UK Mail struggles with CityLink collapse: UK Mail said in a trading update that the extra costs from dealing with a surge in demand in the wake of the collapse of CityLink would hit full year profits. The London-listed mail and parcel delivery service said that, despite revenue being about 5% higher during the year, the additional cost of dealing with all the unexpected extra work meant that profits will now be at the lower end of market expectations. The shares moved 1.4% lower to 478p. The company added that the additional costs of dealing with the higher parcel volumes have continued into the current year. Mr Lawson reduced his profit forecast for the year to March 2016 by £2.5 million accordingly. Guy Buswell, Chief Executive, said that he had to hire extra vans and trailers at short notice and on higher rates to deal with the parcels. He added that the additional staff brought in to deal with the surge in work also increased the costs. The company is going through a significant period of change as it moves to its new facility. Mr Buswell said parcel sorting automation will increase from 20% to around 80% by the time the move is completed at the end of July. This is significant because parcels contributed about 60% of the group’s profits and about 40% of the revenue. U.K. Mail shares have had a volatile year so far, rising to 560p in Febraury before falling to 471.25p on the disappointing profit outlook. The shares are trading on 15 times forecast earnings and with profits expected to be roughly flat during the next 12 months we downgrade to a hold. U.K. Mail at 471.25p-13.75p. Questor Says “Hold”.

Costa to serve up a coffee-making apprenticeships: Whitbread, which owns the coffee shop chain along with Premier Inn, Brewers Fayre and Beefeater, is massively expanding its training programme by taking on 6,000 apprentices over the next five years.

House prices have hit the bottom and the only way is up: House prices in the first quarter of 2015 were 2.6% higher than the final three months of last year, as consumer confidence grows and interest rate rises still seem a far off reality.

Gilts strike as foreigners shun U.K. on gridlock fears: Foreign investors are slashing holdings of British gilts at a record pace on concerns over electoral gridlock and the long-term stability of sterling.

U.K. banks: when the cards are down: The ultra-low reading is the result of accelerating U.K. economic growth, low interest rates, higher property prices, banks’ sale of dodgy property loans, lending deemed problematic mid-crisis that came right, and fewer bad loans generally. True, S&P’s cheery picture is skewed by Royal Bank of Scotland, which took a very low £101 million loan impairment charge in the U.K. last year after writing down a whopping £3.6 billion in 2013. But the lower charge still suggests improving property lending. Not at this level — and that is why investors will watch for any significant increases. The rating agency predicts higher overall loan losses of 0.28% of book this year. But that is still less than half the average clip of the past 25 years. The concern is the banks’ (mostly unsecured) consumer lending, traditionally a big source of write-offs. While the loan-loss ratio on retail mortgages and corporate lending fell to just 4 basis points last year, the ratio on consumer credit, though down almost 90bp, was still a much higher 2.05% of lending. Consumer credit was up 6.6% last year; S&P expects it to rise by 8% this year, driving up credit losses. Consumer stress could return if taxes rise post-election, or interest rates begin to climb.